Achieving Independent Control Over NHIs – Source: securityboulevard.com

Is Independent Control over Non-Human Identities Possible?

The challenge of managing Non-Human Identities (NHIs) effectively is significantly increasing. With the rapid expansion of cloud technologies and the multiplying scale of machine identities, organizations are left grappling with the implications of changing. But what if there was a way to achieve independent control over these NHIs, ensuring seamless integration with the existing security infrastructure while minimizing the possibility of breaches?

Introducing the concept of autonomous NHI management, a strategic approach to handling NHIs. This approach addresses pressing concerns, extending its relevance across industries like financial services, healthcare, and travel, as well as various teams in DevOps and SOC.

Understanding the Core of NHI

At its core, NHI involves machine identities used. These NHIs are created by melding a Secret (an encrypted password, token, or key acting as a unique identifier) with the permissions that are granted by a destination server. Therefore, managing NHIs and their secrets involves securing the identities, their access credentials, and monitoring their behaviors within the system.

Therein lies the power of autonomous NHI management. By addressing all lifecycle stages, from discovery and classification to threat detection and remediation, it delivers a holistic approach to securing machine identities and secrets, unlike point solutions which merely offer limited protection.

The Power of Autonomous NHI Management

So, what does autonomous NHI management entail? It is a process that facilitates insights into ownership, permissions, usage patterns, and potential vulnerabilities. These insights enable context-aware security, not only enhancing the security of your system but also streamlining your operations in the following ways:

– Reduced Risk: The ability to identify and mitigate security risks proactively decreases the likelihood of breaches and leaks.
– Improved Compliance: Assisting organizations to meet regulatory requirements through policy enforcement and audit trails.
– Increased Efficiency: Automating NHI and secrets management frees up the time of security teams for strategic initiatives.
– Enhanced Visibility and Control: Providing a centralized view for access management and governance.
– Cost Savings: Offering reduced operational costs by automating secrets rotation and NHI decommissioning.

You might be pondering, what is the role of data management in all this? That’s a great question! Most discussions about data management tend to focus on the data humans use, but machine-generated data has become an equally critical component.

Paving the Way for Independent NHI Control

Learning to independently control NHIs is not an overnight process. It’s an ongoing strategy that requires understanding the nuances of NHIs and implementing security measures that work best for your organization. For a better grasp on this topic and the three elements of NHIs, click here.

Independent NHI control, while it sounds complex, can be seamlessly integrated with existing cybersecurity infrastructure. Two key components integral to this process are policy enforcement and audit trails. Effective management of these aspects ensures regulatory compliance, vastly improves security, and reduces the chances of a data breach, as outlined in a study published by ScienceDirect.

The escalating complexities of NHIs and the ensuing security concerns bring the need for independent control to the forefront. Autonomous NHI management offers a transformative approach for organizations looking to bolster their cybersecurity measures, while significantly enhancing operational efficiency.

We’ll explore specific strategies your organization can implement to optimize NHI management and achieve independent control over machine identities. Be sure to stay tuned and remember – a secure digital is not a distant dream but a realizable goal with the right tools and strategies at your disposal.

Independent Control: The First Step Towards Enhanced Security

Are you contemplating redefining the security strategy of your organization? Independent control over Non-Human Identities might be the answer you’re seeking. Organizations cannot afford to overlook the implications of managing and controlling NHIs effectively. With the ever-increasing adoption of cloud technologies, the complexities surrounding the scale of machine identities are multiplying rapidly.

The Unprecedented Rise of NHIs

NHIs are stepping up to play a significant role in our interconnected ecosystems. According to a recent LinkedIn post by robotics expert Rohan Sharma, machine interactions are already outnumbering human interactions on the internet, and this trend is expected to escalate exponentially. The rise of IoT and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications has led to an increase in NHIs, contributing to the complexities of managing them.

Therefore, organizations must gain independent control over these identities to maintain the integrity and security of their systems. The diversity of these identities, ranging from applications, APIs, service accounts to system users, highlights the need for vigilant control mechanisms.

Diving Deeper into Autonomous NHI Management

While autonomous NHI management might seem convoluted initially, it essentially involves understanding the lifecycle stages of NHIs and implementing measures to safeguard them. This extends beyond protection from external threats and involves focusing on internal security aspects.

For example, a unique identifier or secret, when combined with permissions granted by a server, creates an NHI. Securing NHIs involves the dual responsibility of safeguarding these secrets and monitoring their actions within the system.

Benefit of Independent Control over NHIs

Beyond the physical aspect of managing the identities, independent control over NHIs translates to several operational benefits. These are not limited to improved compliance with regulatory requirements and reduced risk exposure; it also includes significant cost savings due to the automation of processes associated with secrets rotation and decommissioning NHIs.

By applying autonomous NHI management principles within their cybersecurity protocols, organizations can achieve granular control over NHIs. This increases overall organizational efficiency allowing the security teams to focus more on strategic initiatives as opposed to mundane tasks.

Embracing the Change

The growing intricacies associated with managing NHIs necessitate a shift towards independent control. This demands a comprehensive assessment of existing strategies followed by a transformational step towards embracing autonomous management.

It is highlighted that enterprises from different sectors are continually enhancing their capabilities to meet the evolving challenges of NHIs. To stay ahead, it is crucial to adapt to emerging cybersecurity.

In embracing this transformation, your organization gains from improved security and operational efficiency, reduced risk exposure, and enhanced compliance with regulatory requirements. By adopting such measures, independent control over NHIs becomes an achievable reality, as opposed to a daunting task.

In forthcoming posts, we will delve deeper into specific strategies that your organization might use to optimize NHI management and achieve independent control over machine identities. Make sure to stay connected for more insights!

For a dive into the concrete threats faced by NHIs, check out this post, click here. For an in-depth review of threat mitigation technique, have a look here.

Remember, the goal of achieving a secure digital environment isn’t just a lofty ambition; with the right strategies and understanding, it’s a thoroughly achievable reality. We’re here to guide you along the way.

The post Achieving Independent Control Over NHIs appeared first on Entro.

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Entro authored by Amy Cohn. Read the original post at: https://entro.security/achieving-independent-control-over-nhis/